Post by thevon on Feb 20, 2010 18:55:38 GMT 10
Thursday arvo, Sean Jarred and I shoehorned ourselves into the Outback between wings, chargers ‘n things for the 1hr 40 drive to Beechmont. Short stop at a roadhouse on the way to fuel up with coffee and late lunch, then on to the mountain. Excitement builds with increased height, mega Gold Coast views and wind in the trees!
Arrived at Rosins around 2:30 pm! Took ages! Tim and Eric already there, rain looming across the valley.
It was a great social occasion day with Ezza, Timbuck, Kevvy Bennet and a couple of other guys later all arriving … and a great opportunity to see some amazing build techniques. Tim had a JW which was covered with thick PET sheet (like soft drink bottle plastic). It was a perfectly smooth flat covering, but it does crack on impact – no big deal as it’s easy to tape, and easy to replace.
Tim is excited about the "fast, heavy, cheap" secret plastic DS plane he’s been developing that's not far off now.
But man, I was most amazed by Kev’s work with the Windburners, which have thin gloss kitchen laminate sheet sheeted over the cut foam cores. I really couldn’t get over it. An unbelievably good method which I suspect could become a standard for simple-plan strong wind and DS planes. Simple, fast to make, strong and as smooth as anything you’ve ever seen.
The guys got out there with foam but I was keen to get the Wizard out ASAP. It’s such a nice plane. At 2.5m span, fully ballasted to 3.8kg it was going up like a helium balloon! It’s so great to fly at a big-sky, big-lift site where you can do crazy acro patterns and still come out with more energy than you started with!
The wind was really south (this site works best in SE) but it was still consistent thrills DSing behind the treeline, curving right back inside the rim of trees and close to the deck, plus the odd rotor. It was like foamie DS combat over there – lots of whooshing through the shear with up to 6 foamies in the zone at a time, punctuated by the odd crack of wings hitting trees or mother earth. There were lots of running repairs and my trusty well stocked toolbox was put to good use – but even I was impressed when Kev pulled out a battery operated soldering iron later!
I was keen to try DSing the “big” zone behind the high trees. It has a lot of room and therefore maybe big speed potential. The Wiz got to 130 but it felt lazy, never really kicking and I couldn’t really get a consistent powerful groove. Ez coached me to a different line which helped a bit and I went a bit lower to try for more energy, and clipped a small tree! A few leaves spat out but the Wiz didn’t budge from its track! Very, very lucky escape.
To land, you have to go over the backside into a big valley, climbing a fence, taking the plane well back to lose energy and coming over the top of powerlines, then dropping low with flaps. I sorta expected very hot heavy landings due to the Wizard’s weight, but each of the 3 landings was very soft. The last time I came over high and did big circles to lose speed, but it didn’t slow down and I realized that the DS zone was working way past the powerlines too!
We were grounded by showers for a short while, but then the foamie action kept on. Someone was usually climbing a tree to get a plane. Sean got 30 seconds of DS with the Brutale until he ploughed it in and it took 10 minutes of searching (while everyone had to hover frontside) till the fin was found.
I had a go with the Reaper and it was just great. Tried flying from the other end and it was smoother and faster– only 84mph but great fun. I got Kev to come up there – he’s just learning DS, and found it really hard – he’s only DS’ed one direction!
Frontside landings were the cause of some carnage. Jarred flew my Reaper so I could get some video of him DSing it, but some rain came so he landed frontside and it did a hard cartwheel and tore the fuse off, breaking the battery wires. He felt so bad and I kept telling him it was fine!
A few minutes later Sean tried to land his Brutale in the same way and it shot across the slope into a big stone monument! That Brutale won’t fly again.
It was a classically fun arvo. Half a dozen guys just being boys with their toys. It was a hoot. I got the Wizard out as it was getting dusk and started really nailing some good fast laps in the small zone – but probably not as fast as Sean had been going with the Erwin (122mph). That Erwin is amazing. Even frontside, you can hear it’s distinctive metallic whine as it shoots across the frontside and into another gigantic pump.
While I was hogging the “top spot” with the Wizard, Ezza was DSing an impossibly cramped spot between trees and powerlines, and planted his JW really hard about 2 metres from Tim! In the video you can see Tim’s reaction!
We flew till it was too dark to keep going. Long way for us, but it was worth it.
VIDEO IS HERE:
vimeo.com/9591725
Arrived at Rosins around 2:30 pm! Took ages! Tim and Eric already there, rain looming across the valley.
It was a great social occasion day with Ezza, Timbuck, Kevvy Bennet and a couple of other guys later all arriving … and a great opportunity to see some amazing build techniques. Tim had a JW which was covered with thick PET sheet (like soft drink bottle plastic). It was a perfectly smooth flat covering, but it does crack on impact – no big deal as it’s easy to tape, and easy to replace.
Tim is excited about the "fast, heavy, cheap" secret plastic DS plane he’s been developing that's not far off now.
But man, I was most amazed by Kev’s work with the Windburners, which have thin gloss kitchen laminate sheet sheeted over the cut foam cores. I really couldn’t get over it. An unbelievably good method which I suspect could become a standard for simple-plan strong wind and DS planes. Simple, fast to make, strong and as smooth as anything you’ve ever seen.
The guys got out there with foam but I was keen to get the Wizard out ASAP. It’s such a nice plane. At 2.5m span, fully ballasted to 3.8kg it was going up like a helium balloon! It’s so great to fly at a big-sky, big-lift site where you can do crazy acro patterns and still come out with more energy than you started with!
The wind was really south (this site works best in SE) but it was still consistent thrills DSing behind the treeline, curving right back inside the rim of trees and close to the deck, plus the odd rotor. It was like foamie DS combat over there – lots of whooshing through the shear with up to 6 foamies in the zone at a time, punctuated by the odd crack of wings hitting trees or mother earth. There were lots of running repairs and my trusty well stocked toolbox was put to good use – but even I was impressed when Kev pulled out a battery operated soldering iron later!
I was keen to try DSing the “big” zone behind the high trees. It has a lot of room and therefore maybe big speed potential. The Wiz got to 130 but it felt lazy, never really kicking and I couldn’t really get a consistent powerful groove. Ez coached me to a different line which helped a bit and I went a bit lower to try for more energy, and clipped a small tree! A few leaves spat out but the Wiz didn’t budge from its track! Very, very lucky escape.
To land, you have to go over the backside into a big valley, climbing a fence, taking the plane well back to lose energy and coming over the top of powerlines, then dropping low with flaps. I sorta expected very hot heavy landings due to the Wizard’s weight, but each of the 3 landings was very soft. The last time I came over high and did big circles to lose speed, but it didn’t slow down and I realized that the DS zone was working way past the powerlines too!
We were grounded by showers for a short while, but then the foamie action kept on. Someone was usually climbing a tree to get a plane. Sean got 30 seconds of DS with the Brutale until he ploughed it in and it took 10 minutes of searching (while everyone had to hover frontside) till the fin was found.
I had a go with the Reaper and it was just great. Tried flying from the other end and it was smoother and faster– only 84mph but great fun. I got Kev to come up there – he’s just learning DS, and found it really hard – he’s only DS’ed one direction!
Frontside landings were the cause of some carnage. Jarred flew my Reaper so I could get some video of him DSing it, but some rain came so he landed frontside and it did a hard cartwheel and tore the fuse off, breaking the battery wires. He felt so bad and I kept telling him it was fine!
A few minutes later Sean tried to land his Brutale in the same way and it shot across the slope into a big stone monument! That Brutale won’t fly again.
It was a classically fun arvo. Half a dozen guys just being boys with their toys. It was a hoot. I got the Wizard out as it was getting dusk and started really nailing some good fast laps in the small zone – but probably not as fast as Sean had been going with the Erwin (122mph). That Erwin is amazing. Even frontside, you can hear it’s distinctive metallic whine as it shoots across the frontside and into another gigantic pump.
While I was hogging the “top spot” with the Wizard, Ezza was DSing an impossibly cramped spot between trees and powerlines, and planted his JW really hard about 2 metres from Tim! In the video you can see Tim’s reaction!
We flew till it was too dark to keep going. Long way for us, but it was worth it.
VIDEO IS HERE:
vimeo.com/9591725
i think with the Tracer, and Pete, best of all, got 66 with his skua 1500, great to see pete getting in the groove! Weasel Maiden when great, Pike Maiden hopefully Tomorrow!